Afstan: Beyond wobbly

Prime Minister Harper has given up. Only a Conservative majority government by next Spring will keep the combat mission going. The PM is not the leader he should be.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday his government has no plans to prolong Canada's current combat role in Afghanistan beyond its February 2009 commitment -- arguing any extension would be for a new mission and would depend on beefed-up NATO military support.

Mr. Harper reaffirmed his government's plans to seek a "reasonable degree" of parliamentary support before considering any extension to the current Afghan mission, or agreeing to a new one. But when asked whether he has any desire to prolong the combat mission in southern Afghanistan beyond 2009, Mr. Harper said, "No [emphasis added - MC]."

"I think Canadians are expecting that if we're in Afghanistan after 2009, it would be a new mission," Mr. Harper told a Calgary radio show yesterday.

"Canadians have been fairly clear that if we were to be in after 2009, that they would expect our participation to evolve in some way."

That evolution would require NATO to substantially increase the number of soldiers in the country from the roughly 30,000 stationed there now, he said.

"The truth of the matter is NATO still is not putting in near the amount of forces that are necessary to really bring permanent stability to Afghanistan," Mr. Harper said.

The prime minister said a boost in NATO numbers would be a critical factor in renewing Canada's mission [emphasis added] in Afghanistan, or pursuing a new commitment in the country beyond February 2009...

"He's clearly feeling a lot of heat from the public opinion polls," Bercuson [director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary] said Tuesday. "If he's asking himself what's more important -- that I maintain governance or that I get approval for a combat mission, then a combat mission is coming second."..

But maybe the difference in the two bolded bits allows some wiggle room to continue the combat mission if political circumstances are right. Good luck.